Rekindling the Hearth (4 day retreat)

Are you yearning to steep in the wisdom traditions of Europe? Take a deep dive into the mythopoetic ancestral waters of Scottish storytelling culture with Dougie Mackay.

This retreat offers a four day immersive experience into Celtic myth and Scottish storytelling culture. Combining many years of storytelling experience, group-work facilitation, and mentoring from some of Scotland’s finest ‘seanachies’, Dougie will offer a potent space for gleaning the medicine of ancient tales to support us in the turbulence of the modern world.

This is a rare opportunity to work with Dougie on the West Coast of Canada before he returns to Scotland.

Hosted and supported by Tad Hargrave.

 In this retreat, we will:

• Delve into the living storytelling traditions of Scotland
• Access ancestral cultures through the power of myth, story and living folk culture
• Experience mythopoetics with a distinctly Celtic flavour
• Learn to tune your ear for the cultural gold, buried in myth
• Activities to foster enriching relationship with stories
• Use story as a mirror for your own life
• Be guided by professional storytellers, group work facilitators, and cultural activists
• Learn about cultural cornerstones of Scottish culture and wisdom traditions
• Participate in mighty craic and Saturday night ceilidh
• Work with facilitators who have been mentored and inspired by cultural leaders such as Seoras MacPherson, David Campbell, Jess Smith, Jon Young, Martin Shaw, and Jan Blake

This could be for you if:

• You want to learn about the wisdom traditions of old Europe and are curious about Celtic culture
• You love story, myth, and symbolic language
• You want to connect with and celebrate Scottish culture, heritage, traditions, and ancestry
• You love storytelling, folk culture, nature connection, and mythopoetics
• You recognize story as a powerful tool for transformation and regeneration
• You are an aspiring storyteller, facilitator, cultural practitioner
• You value wonder, awe, and magnificence

What is involved?

We will embark upon an immersive journey through a whole cycle of Celtic tales! Each day, we will focus on a significant Celtic myth and dive deep. We will touch on important cultural cornerstones, and weaving a holistic ‘story arc’ or medicine wheel through the weekend. Cultural context for each tale will be offered.

Although guided by facilitators, the retreat will encourage active participation and group sharing as well as reflective exercises to facilitate a deeper personal journey with the story.

Collectively we will pan for the ‘cultural gold’ hidden within the stories, drawing upon the facilitators’ own insights and experience, while also making fresh discoveries each time.

Practical, nature connected activities will be offered as a way to embody the story, and cornerstones of Scottish and Celtic folk culture will be shared.

We will bathe in these old tales, learn to work with them in a meaningful way, gain both ancestral and cultural understanding, tune our ears for the mythic medicine of story, and develop a mythopoetic practice that can be carried into our lives beyond the retreat.

Cornerstones of Scottish-Celtic Culture Covered:

• The Cailleach and creation 
• The Fianna and the golden age of the Gaelic hunter-gatherer, warrior poets
• Druids and early saints
• Faery lore and reciprocity with nature
• The power of words and poetics
• Wise women, darks arts, and the persecution of witches
• Selkies, kelpies, and supernatural creatures
• Clan Culture, Culloden, and the clearances
• Seanachies, travelling folk, hospitality, and the spirit of the ceilidh

Registration & Accommodations:

Pre-registration is required. Register via Ticket Tailor ($150 deposit secures your place) here: https://app.tickettailor.com/events/dougiemackaystoryteller/1210714

PWYC (Pay What You Can) upon completion (suggested $750-$1,350 CAD).

Camping options available upon inquiry (spots are limited). Please reach out to info@storyconnection.org if you have any questions!

About Dougie:

Dougie is a contemporary Scottish storyteller, steeped in the cultural traditions of Scotland and the Celtic isles. Trained by seanachies and tradition bearers, yet with a finger on the pulse of contemporary storytelling, modern complexity and mythopoetics, Dougie is at the forefront of a movement in Scotland tracking codes of the old culture through story that can sustain us and guide us through the turbulence of modern life.

Rooted in Community development practice and nature education programs, facilitation is core to Dougie’s story practice. He has curated storytelling shows for performances at the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Festival at the Edge (England’s oldest storytelling festival), as well as international performances in Germany, Norway, Lithuania, Ireland and the Kingdom of Jordan. This will be his first storytelling venture across the Atlantic.

Learn more about his work at: https://storyconnection.org/

Podcast: https://talesforourtimes.buzzsprout.com